Services & Programs

Close the Gap between Employee Potential and Performance

The purpose of this program is to help improve employee performance all year, achieving the real purpose of Performance Appraisals. Many employees can likely improve their performance with just a little tweaking or help from time-to-time. Managers will become more effective at helping employees improve results over time. And the next PA becomes easier to conduct.

This is what Ongoing Performance Coaching helps organizations and their managers achieve.

Why ongoing performance coaching doesn’t occur in most organizations:

1. Managers feel they “don’t have the time,” because they already feel overwhelmed just trying to get everything done now. How on earth are they ever going to add yet another task to do?!

2. They fear that coaching sessions will become more like feedback sessions, getting them involved in long discussions where they have to deal with employee defensiveness, and the issues behind it, getting them further behind.

3. Along with employees, they fear they and their empoyees will get off task for too long, so the job doesn’t get done, and deadlines are missed.

They don’t have an effective and brief skill they believe in, and are committed to using. If they did, they’d be much more likely to try using it.

The results managers would really like to have instead:

1. Quick, easy-to-conduct conversations that improve employee performance, and are comfortable for both managers and employees.

2. Gaining time to work on more strategic tasks as employee performance improves, making the time investment worth it.

3. Making performance appraisals easier, faster, and more comfortable to conduct, something both managers and employees desire.

4. Improving their own performance by achieving more and better results with employees.

All of these are very understandable. Now, we’ll solve their concerns, and end these obstacles.

What participants will learn in this program

This program combines the primary elements of Coaching; Facilitation; A Positive Approach; and MBWA, or Management by Walking Around in order to develop an effective structure for coaching.

Three of its key skills include Making it Safe for employees to admit mistakes; 2-Way Communication; and Coaching Agreements.

-Managers will learn how employees want to be coached; both will come to an agreement about how this will be done effectively and comfortably, and develop a Coaching Agreement.

-The difference between coaching and feedback; their characteristics, and when to use each.

-How to facilitate employees in becoming aware of a potential obstacle, delay, shortcoming or problem.

-Reinforcing good performance so employees understand the why behind it, and continue.

-Forming coaching questions and using them effectively in a facilitative style instead of delivering feedback or “telling” employees.

-A package of 4 coaching skills to give managers the ability to cover most of the coaching situations they’ll encounter.

-Using A Positive Approach emphasizing and beginning with what employees are doing right and doing well.

-Learning a 2-Way Communication skill so employees and managers better understand how to work together, including mutual needs and expectations; information sharing; concerns; and requests.

-Using MBWA or Management by Walking Around to assist employees without hovering over them, or looking for what they’re doing wrong.

-Gaining more employee cooperation and input to increase the results manager-employee teams achieve.

-Removing fear and blame by Making It Safe for employees to come to managers about concerns, problems, mistakes or errors so they can be dealt with and resolved earlier, and more capably.

-Reviewing progress to make improvements and updating them as objectives, results and needs change.

The result is far more communication, comfort, rapport, cooperation, problem solving and more productive work relationships.

What your organization receives

Programs that include both training and reinforcement sessions, and are conducted over a period of time, are far more effective in helping participants learn skills, apply them, and effect positive changes.

Before the program begins, we’ll identify the key metrics needed to help measure the program’s success, and review them during the program in order to make adjustments if necessary, and at the end of the program.

Participant input for more relevance and buy-in. In my experience, when participants have had an opportunity to provide input, they’ve contributed insights, needs, and situations which have made the program more effective. Being able to help shape the program makes it more relevant to their needs, and creates more buy-in ahead of time. For coaching, this is especially important for manager-employee teams; using a proven process, it’s conducted appropriately and respectfully.

Onsite group training sessions at two week intervals. Multiple sessions delivered in three or four hour sessions at two week intervals reduce the amount of time participants are away from their jobs; eliminates overloading them; and allows them to use what they’re learning on the job as training progresses.

Interaction, not PowerPoint presentations. It’s important to me that participants learn skills instead of just hearing them about in slide presentations. My participants learn through demonstrations, brief presentations, contributing input, discovery, and skill practices.

Skill reinforcement begins during training and continues for 3 months after its conclusion, so that new skills are learned and applied to different workplace situations as they occur. This is an essential and missing ingredient in most training programs.

     >Assignments between Sessions. Participants will have assignments to complete between each session, and report on their progress to their manager and the trainer.

     >Follow-Up Workshops.  Conducted 1 month, 3 months, and 9 months after the initial training, depending on their progress. Typically 2 to 4 hours each.

     >Live Video Skill Reinforcement Sessions. Scheduled with small groups to work on new applications as they occur; results; and to review program content. 15 to 40 minutes.

    >Coaching Sessions. For individuals needing more help or skill application; 2 sessions per participant are included.

    >Ongoing Access with Trainer. Participants may email or contact the trainer by phone with questions, or for additional help, for a period of 6 months.

The best combination of these services is determined for each client.

Is this program a good fit for your managers and organization?

This program has been delivered in small to medium size organizations in a variety of businesses and industries.

It’s an effective program for organizations and managers that:

>Believe employees have more potential than they’re using, and that the right amount of coaching and input can help them want to deliver more.

>Are searching for an effective, brief, and comfortable way to provide ongoing coaching or input all year.

>Desire to achieve the real purpose of performance appraisals: improving employee performance (areas of improvement and areas for development), between appraisals. And make performance appraisals easier the next time.

>Recognize that improving performance requires a mutual effort and communication between managers and employees.

>Managers desire or need to gain time for more strategic tasks instead of spending large amounts of time coaching employees because they don’t have the right system or program.

>Want to improve manager performance at achieving results through employees.

>Want more employee cooperation and buy-in to improve their performance versus doing things because they have to.